As I’ve done the last couple of years I went down to Gay Pride in Brighton yesterday. Not necessarily my idea of a perfect day out, but there is a super atmosphere there and it was a nice chance to catch up with my cousin who lives there.
Eczema-wise, I knew it would be chaos. Trying to find healthy food whilst rushing around following the group we were with on a long-distance pub crawl was almost impossible. I also couldn’t resist the temptation to drink, or to take (a little) marijuana as it was passed round. I’ve noted before that the first time I enter a place (getting home, entering a restaurant, getting on a train…) is always a dangerous time for potential scratching (I don’t know why, perhaps it’s to do with the disorientation of a new place putting my stress level up a bit?) and so a pub crawl would perhaps seem like it would be disastrous in this respect.
How was it? Fine. No scratching, almost none at all.
But…as always…WHY?
1 – The boring reason. I knew the day was going to be a difficult one eczema-wise and used my weakest steroid, Hydrocortisone 1%, for the first time in 5 days, as a preventative measure.
2 – Knowing about the unhealthy times to come, at about 11am I ate a plate full of steamed green vegetables and carrot. Maybe that helped.
3 – I kept my blood sugar under control. I’m now very interested in whether peaks in blood sugar are causing scratching. I dodged all the sweeter alcoholic drinks (except for one jagerbomb…ugh…) and avoided getting cokes etc.
4 – Wishful thinking perhaps, but feeling relaxed under the influence of the marijuana MAY have contributed to me being less inclined to scratch. Perhaps that’s just insane though.
5 – I left early (well, 11ish) so it wasn’t a spectacularly late night.
6 – I made sure I didn’t have to do anything early the next day – I think that worrying about having to get up early to do stuff can lead to me scratching at night.
Today with the hangover etc. I have scratched a bit, but it’s been very controllable. I’ve ate healthily – my super breakfast recommended by Oracle, followed by an onion-spinach omelette with an avocado, rye bread, houmous, and goats cheese – which has probably helped too. And, of course, no caffeine.
Well that’s about it for yesterday. More later.
Life Without Steroids 